Early Signing Period - Updated 11/9/16 @ 11:00 a.m.

[kwren34 18]

UPDATED TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS

247 - 6th
Scout - 3rd
Rivals - 4th
ESPN - 5th

Davion Mitchell - solid commit

Chuma Okeke - solid commit

Austin Wiley - solid commit

 

[bigbird 60,368]

Thanks, @kwren34

[jared52 4,354]

Thank you @kwren34. Great start to the day. Not that we expected drama, but its good these guys got signed and official. 

[eagleskier 8]

Welcome to the Family Davion!  From a Bradwell Institute alumnus (from when there was only one high school in the county.

[augolf1716 21,096]

Just starting guys/gals

[AUB1974 2]

From Montgomery Advertiser November 10

Trio of ‘historic’ Auburn hoops early signees highlighted by center Wiley

AUBURN – The Austin Wiley era in Auburn begun two years ago but became official Wednesday morning when he signed his National Letter-of-Intent with his parents’ alma mater.

Wiley’s commitment as a junior at Spain Park High School was part of a movement of players wanting to eventually play with the five-star center who is projected to be one of the country’s most dominant big man players the minute he steps on Auburn’s campus.

Wiley’s commitment was less than a month after a commitment from five-star guard Mustapha Heron, who will make his Auburn debut Friday night and likely be in the same starting lineup as Wiley next season. The commitment of Heron and Wiley, who are the first duo of five-star prospects to play on the same Auburn roster in school history, led to Pearl’s first three recruiting classes being ranked in the Top 20 according to 247sports.com (No. 19 in 2015, No.

13 in 2016 and No. 5 in 2017).

Wiley, a 6-foot-11 and 255-pound center prospect who now attends the Florida prep school Conrad Academy, chose Auburn over offers and interest from basketball powerhouse programs such as Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan State and Kentucky.

“Let’s also keep in mind that Austin is a 2017 class kid and quite honestly, Auburn probably recruited him harder than anybody in the country,” Evan Daniels, Scout.com’s director of basketball recruiting, said in Oct. 2015.

“Those blue blood programs were still looking at 2016 class kids.

Auburn did exactly what they needed to do. They identified a talent early and did everything they needed to do to get a commitment.”

Wiley is the son of former Auburn players, All-American Vickie Orr, and Aubrey Wiley, who led the Southeastern Conference in rebounding in 1993-94 and a cousin to current Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person.

“This class is historic,” said Pearl. “It started with Austin Wiley - about a year and a half ago committing to us prior to his junior year. He knew that his verbal commitment might attract others. All he’s done between then and now is work so hard to build his body to represent our country in international basketball and wear that USA jersey. Now, he’s going to come here and add to the history and legacy of his family.”

Wiley, who is ranked 13th nationally by Scout, 16th by Rivals and 17th by 247Sports, played on Team USA’s gold medal winner at the U17 world championships in Spain this summer. He averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds as a junior last season for Spain Park, which reached the state Class 7A finals.

“I can’t see why it wasn’t the perfect fit to go to school and play basketball,” Wiley said on his commitment day of Sept. 26, 2015. “I’ve been coming here since I was born. The way I look at this is a coming home party today.”

Jerry Bartley, director of Wiley’s AAU program, The Alabama Challenge, said Wiley will remind basketball fans of former Florida power forward and current Boston Celtics all-star Al Horford.

“He’s not all there offensive yet but the tools are all there for him to continue to development,” Bartley said. “What he’s already got is the ability to affect the game defensively and a great attitude with a great family background. When your mother has her name carved into the building, you have the chance to be special.”

Four-star Chuma Okeke, a 6foot-8, 225-pound forward from Westlake High School near Atlanta, committed to Auburn this July and the 56th-best player in the country according to247Sports.com, averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 rebounds as a sophomore in 2014-15. He chose Auburn over Mississippi State, Florida, Clemson, LSU, Georgia Tech, Georgia and UAB after he averaged 14.8 points per game and eight rebounds in 15 games this summer for the Georgia Stars AAU team out of Atlanta.

“Chuma Okeke is a rare talent,” Pearl said in a university statement. “He’s a nightmare matchup for people because he can shoot the ball from the perimeter. He can put it on the floor. He can score for himself. He reminds you of Danjel Purifoy, but he has little bit more size. He’s creative like Danjel as well.”

Davion Mitchell, a four-star point guard from Hinesville, Georgia, completed the early signees of Auburn’s 2017 class. Mitchell, who is No. 33 by 247Sports, averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game as a junior, earning Savannah Morning News Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors. He’ll be expected to compete for playing time at the point next year with current freshman Jared Harper.

“Davion Mitchell is one of the most physical defenders anywhere in high school basketball,” said Pearl. “There is not a better onthe- ball defender than Davion Mitchell. If I put you on him, you’re not going to score that night, but he can also score. We’re going to have great point guard play because of Jared Harper and Davion Mitchell running that position.”

Go online for more from Aubur n Authority blog.

montgomeryadvertiser.com @matthewstevens

[gravejd 3,269]

class ranked as high as top 2, 3 players ranked in top 60 in the country. Sounds like business as usual for AU bball!

[aujeff11 6,243]

 

19mJosh Vitale‏ @AUBlog

Bruce Pearl said five-star signee Austin Wiley is expected to join Auburn when the rest of the 2017 recruiting class does.

Doesnt sound like Wiley will be coming in January.

[jared52 4,354]

 

[TexasTiger 12,811]

2 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

 

19mJosh Vitale‏ @AUBlog

Bruce Pearl said five-star signee Austin Wiley is expected to join Auburn when the rest of the 2017 recruiting class does.

Doesnt sound like Wiley will be coming in January.

Sounds more like a possibility to me.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Just now, TexasTiger said:

Sounds more like a possibility to me.

What makes you say that? If Wiley joins the team with the rest of the signees in January, I guess that means we wouldn't be getting any spring signees.

[TexasTiger 12,811]

59 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

What makes you say that? If Wiley joins the team with the rest of the signees in January, I guess that means we wouldn't be getting any spring signees.

This sounds pretty qualified to me:

http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index.ssf/2016/11/when_is_five-star_center_austi.html#incart_river_mobileshort_index

 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

The NCAA needs to pass an Early Signing Period for football.

[ellitor 33,062]

1 hour ago, auburn4ever said:

The NCAA needs to pass an Early Signing Period for football.

They have. Go to the recruiting forum

[ellitor 33,062]

2 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

This sounds pretty qualified to me:

http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index.ssf/2016/11/when_is_five-star_center_austi.html#incart_river_mobileshort_index

 

Yep. And that's all Bruce is going to say unless it becomes definite that Austin will get here in December. "Scheduled to" in this case is definitely code for it could be sooner.

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

I'm very excited about the class that Bruce Pearl is putting together! We are recruiting better than we ever have in our history. Bruce has also laid the foundation for the next couple of recruiting classes. So the future is certainly bright! 

With that said, UAT seems to recruiting better than they ever had in their history as well. This has taught me tonight that we do not need to be satisfied. I know we're not Duke or Kentucky, but there are still another big man and/or sharpshooter out there that we need to add. These coaches have already proven that they recruit with anyone. Let's hope that they are able to add another 1-2 more talented players in the late signing period. Fingers crossed for MJ Walker and Obiagu.

 

[ellitor 33,062]

1 hour ago, CameronCrazy said:

I'm very excited about the class that Bruce Pearl is putting together! We are recruiting better than we ever have in our history. Bruce has also laid the foundation for the next couple of recruiting classes. So the future is certainly bright! 

With that said, UAT seems to recruiting better than they ever had in their history as well. This has taught me tonight that we do not need to be satisfied. I know we're not Duke or Kentucky, but there are still another big man and/or sharpshooter out there that we need to add. These coaches have already proven that they recruit with anyone. Let's hope that they are able to add another 1-2 more talented players in the late signing period. Fingers crossed for MJ Walker and Obiagu.

 

If we get any more I expect them to be grad transfers. There doesn't seem to be any prospects left on the board the staff is interested in from the high school level. They backed off of Ikey for example.

[gravejd 3,269]

15 hours ago, CameronCrazy said:

I'm very excited about the class that Bruce Pearl is putting together! We are recruiting better than we ever have in our history. Bruce has also laid the foundation for the next couple of recruiting classes. So the future is certainly bright! 

With that said, UAT seems to recruiting better than they ever had in their history as well. This has taught me tonight that we do not need to be satisfied. I know we're not Duke or Kentucky, but there are still another big man and/or sharpshooter out there that we need to add. These coaches have already proven that they recruit with anyone. Let's hope that they are able to add another 1-2 more talented players in the late signing period. Fingers crossed for MJ Walker and Obiagu.

 

I've taken note of that as well at bama. I'm thinking that A. Johnson hire is looking pretty good. But i expected if we raised our game others would as well. Fine by me, better good teams is more satisfying than beating crappy teams

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

I am elated with these three with what will be coming back next year we will be loaded. War Eagle and Welcome aboard to our newest additions.

 

 

[kwren34 18]

1 hour ago, gravejd said:

I've taken note of that as well at bama. I'm thinking that A. Johnson hire is looking pretty good. But i expected if we raised our game others would as well. Fine by me, better good teams is more satisfying than beating crappy teams

It's not just Bama. Mississippi State has had a couple VERY good recruiting classes, Tennessee hit a home run in hiring Rick Barnes. Frank Martin at South Carolina has them doing big things and Arkansas is supposed to have a very good team this year. Bruce said when he was hired that the whole SEC will continue to get stronger and they have.

[gravejd 3,269]

Very true on all points except we'll see about Barnes. His track record at UT was to sign amazing players and then accomplish nothing with those players. At least nothing in terms of advancing in NCAA tourney. He'll need to buck that reputation before i rate that a home run hire. I will say they did pretty good getting him considering how they ran off their last coach with the Pearl obsession